Development and Validation of Breastfeeding After Bariatric Surgery Scale

Methods

The Breastfeeding after Bariatric Surgery Scale (BBSS) was developed and validated in three phases: Phase 1, generating items by reviewing the relevant literature and the theory of planned behaviour; Phase 2, evaluating content validity with a panel of experts; and Phase 3, evaluating face validity, exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation, and reliability and responsiveness. Results: Initially, 40 items were generated in Phase 1.

After assessing content and face validity, the number of items was reduced to 22. The results of exploratory factor analysis yielded a scale with 22 items in five domains, including “healthcare provider support,” “perceived behavioural control,” “subjective norms,” “positive breastfeeding experience,” and “negative feelings and challenges.” These subscales explained 63.19 and 69.70% of the total variance, respectively.

Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for each subscale was >0.70, and the intraclass correlation coefficient for each subscale was >0.75. Conclusion: This scale showed acceptable validity and reliability for measuring breastfeeding behaviour and experiences in mothers who have had bariatric surgery.